HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $115.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 88.37% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $61.05 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $42.13 and a 12 month high of $86.74. The company has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a PE ratio of -17.64 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.29.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. The business had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $51.60 per share, for a total transaction of $258,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,238,400. This trade represents a 26.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total value of $462,698.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,270,004.44. This represents a 6.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 225,163 shares of company stock worth $17,711,191 over the last three months. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $43,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.